Experience in South America

Dick Gibson's work on South America was on a proprietary basis for a Marathon Oil Company. It utilized the University of Leeds' gravity compilation, together with published geologic and magnetic maps and local proprietary magnetic data. The seven-month project resulted in a detailed 20-sheet Interpretation Atlas with clear overlays on the colored gravity maps, together with a 57 page written report.

Much of the gravity data set is of excellent quality for the working scale (1:2,000,000), though there were a few large "holes" and areas of sparse coverage. This compilation remains the best gravity set for the continent of South America. Contact GETECH for more information about the compilation. Gibson Consulting has no rights to the interpretation Dick Gibson did for Marathon.

Specific features that can be delimited include block faults in the Austral Basin, depocenters offshore the Falkands (Malavinas), major thrusts in the San Jorge, Cuyo, and Neuquen Basins, probable basement noses in sub-Andean basins of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, possible regional uplifts that may guide strat traps in northern Argentina, and the complex tectonic fabric of northern Colombia and Venezuela. Specific geometries of Atlantic and Amazon Rift basins, both on and offshore, can be inferred.

This work included a 3-year proprietary period for Marathon. Since this period has expired, Dick Gibson is available to work on this data set again, and in fact he did a short project in Colombia using these data together with magnetics, for a different client. Let us know if you are interested.